Comments Thread For: Bernard Hopkins: Contender Emeritus?

[ИATAS]

damn..everyone on here is biased when it comes to their favorite fighter..had this article been talking about anyone other than hopis..natas wouldve posted a completly differant statement...

hopkins can fight who he wants..but he shouldnt be ranked in the division if he isnt gonna fight others in the diviision

How so if I'm basically saying hopkins shouldn't be ranked if he doesn't fight a top ranked LH? Like I said hopkins probably doesn't care about his ranking at this point in his career, so neither should anyone else. He has 1 fight left at LH and that's it.

For the record Mayweather hasn't fought a top welterweight in about 3 years and he's ranked...

But in regards to dawson my point is legit - there is no money fighting him.

[2501]

How so if I'm basically saying hopkins shouldn't be ranked if he doesn't fight a top ranked LH? Like I said hopkins probably doesn't care about his ranking at this point in his career, so neither should anyone else. He has 1 fight left at LH and that's it.

It's obvious you're racist against Dawson because he is blacker than Hopkins.

[ИATAS]

It's obvious you're racist against Dawson because he is blacker than Hopkins.

[Xcusemymood]

Im not trying to hate on Hopkins at all, but, people always say that Floyd fights smaller fighters, but what Hopkins has been doing latley is just as bad, if not worse......

Take a look at their last 3 fights(not including Ornaleus)-

Hatton- 140 Undisputed champion(plus belt at 147) up 1 weight class to fight Floyd

Calzaghe- 168 Undisputed champion(never fought at 175) up 1 weight class to fight Hopkins.

JMM- 135 Undisputed champion(Top 5 p4p guy) up 2 weight classes to fight Floyd

Winky Wright- 160 Contender(Top 5 p4p guy) up 2 weight classes(170) to fight Hopkins

Oscar- 154 Champion Floyd moved up 1 weightclass to 154

Pavlik- 160 Undisputed champion moving up 1 weight class to fight Hopkins

Honestly, its all pretty good competition. You can say JMM or even reach and say Hatton didnt belong at WW, but its obvious that Pavlik and Winky didnt belong at 170 either. Nobody is ranking JMM or Winky as these guys best wins. Pavlik was great because it was such a shock how Hop dominated him.

Based on their competitors competition I dont know how you can complain that they are too big or too small for one another.

Jermain Taylor- Two wins over Hop. Draw with Winky. 2 losses to Pavlik.

Manny Pac- Two contraversial fights with JMM, KO Hatton, Oscar.

JMM- Everyone wants him to fight Hatton.

I think they are pretty parallel, you can give Hop some points because he is older and maybe the Calz losss was contraversial(I personally dont think so, but maybe so was the Winky win?)or you could give Floyd some points because he didnt lose, or dock him some because he has been inactive.

But in all honesty I dont think either of them should be getting a ton of ****. They are fighting good fighters and sometimes to make fights concessions such as moving up or down a weightclass or two need to be made to make fights or setup superfights.

Take it how you want, but nothing is gonna work out perfectly all the time.

[Dave Rado]

Im not trying to hate on Hopkins at all, but, people always say that Floyd fights smaller fighters, but what Hopkins has been doing latley is just as bad, if not worse.......

Floyd is still in his prime.

And he claims to be the P4P #1, and has claimed to be one of the best P4P fighters of all time.

Hopkins at age 45 can fight bus conductors if he wants to. And he hasn't made any claims about his ranking or about his ATG status.

That said, I completely agree with Cliff that he should be demoted in the LHW rankings, as should Tarver and Johnson.

[Xcusemymood]

Floyd is still in his prime.

And he claims to be the P4P #1, and has claimed to be one of the best P4P fighters of all time.

Hopkins at age 45 can fight bus conductors if he wants to. And he hasn't made any claims about his ranking or about his ATG status.

That said, I completely agree with Cliff that he should be demoted in the LHW rankings, as should Tarver and Johnson.

What does that have to do with anything? Were all of those fighters not the top guys in the sport? Is Hopkins not on a world-class level?

Did Hopkins not peak later than other fighters?

Hopkins doesnt talk about his place as an ATG? Have you ever listened to the guy?

Let me guess, you are going to say Floyd hasnt fought top WW?(Even though he actually did at the time, then took money fights, and now looks to be on track to do so again, we'll see...)

Well guess what Hopkins hasnt fought ANY LHW besides Tarver. Guess what else? He not on track to.

I think I was pretty fair to both guys with my assesment. I said you can give or take points where you need to, but at the end of the day EVERYONE ranks BOTH guys very highly.

If you are going to say one of them has the right to do so as he pleases, so does the other, they are both champions for over 10 years and have earned their rank. Quit babying Hopkins. He is A grown man and Top 5 p4p. He takes credit for being there, he takes the money for being there, and he has earned it. Dont take it away from him because of his age.

I dont have a problem with Hokins being rated 3,4,or 5 at LHW. He did beat and was the former Undisputed champion. Again, almost the same situation where Floyd beat and was the Undisputed WW champion, but Floyd vacated his title instead of losing it.

I dont see Floyd being #1 rated WW. I believe he is #3 or 4?
I think its fair to both guys to be around that area, they havent done much there lately, but clearly they have both proven they belong there.

[Tiozzo]

Im not trying to hate on Hopkins at all, but, people always say that Floyd fights smaller fighters, but what Hopkins has been doing latley is just as bad, if not worse......

Take a look at their last 3 fights(not including Ornaleus)-

Hatton- 140 Undisputed champion(plus belt at 147) up 1 weight class to fight Floyd

Calzaghe- 168 Undisputed champion(never fought at 175) up 1 weight class to fight Hopkins.

JMM- 135 Undisputed champion(Top 5 p4p guy) up 2 weight classes to fight Floyd

Winky Wright- 160 Contender(Top 5 p4p guy) up 2 weight classes(170) to fight Hopkins

Oscar- 154 Champion Floyd moved up 1 weightclass to 154

Pavlik- 160 Undisputed champion moving up 1 weight class to fight Hopkins

Honestly, its all pretty good competition. You can say JMM or even reach and say Hatton didnt belong at WW, but its obvious that Pavlik and Winky didnt belong at 170 either. Nobody is ranking JMM or Winky as these guys best wins. Pavlik was great because it was such a shock how Hop dominated him.

Based on their competitors competition I dont know how you can complain that they are too big or too small for one another.

Jermain Taylor- Two wins over Hop. Draw with Winky. 2 losses to Pavlik.

Manny Pac- Two contraversial fights with JMM, KO Hatton, Oscar.

JMM- Everyone wants him to fight Hatton.

I think they are pretty parallel, you can give Hop some points because he is older and maybe the Calz losss was contraversial(I personally dont think so, but maybe so was the Winky win?)or you could give Floyd some points because he didnt lose, or dock him some because he has been inactive.

But in all honesty I dont think either of them should be getting a ton of ****. They are fighting good fighters and sometimes to make fights concessions such as moving up or down a weightclass or two need to be made to make fights or setup superfights.

Take it how you want, but nothing is gonna work out perfectly all the time.

Just a precision : Pavlik moved up 2 weight classes just like Wright (170).

[Xcusemymood]

Just a precision : Pavlik moved up 2 weight classes just like Wright (170).

Yeah I thought so, but it wasnt really 2 whole classes so I was gonna give one, and let the ther one be.....

[ИATAS]

Actually Pavlik's fight against Taylor was at 166, so he had to go up just 4 pounds to face hopkins.

Also, I understand your points about hopkins, but don't discredit Calzaghe as NOT being a legitimate Light Heavyweight, because he clearly was and he later proved this by schooling roy jones and owning both SM & LH Ring Belts before retiring. Joe had been planning on moving to LH for some time long before hopkins was even possible since 168 was becoming extremely difficult for Joe to make. He was a natural light heavyweight by that time of his career, without question.

[Xcusemymood]

Actually Pavlik's fight against Taylor was at 166, so he had to go up just 4 pounds to face hopkins.

Also, I understand your points about hopkins, but don't discredit Calzaghe as NOT being a legitimate Light Heavyweight, because he clearly was and he later proved this by schooling roy jones and owning both SM & LH Ring Belts before retiring. Joe had been planning on moving to LH for some time long before hopkins was even possible since 168 was becoming extremely difficult for Joe to make. He was a natural light heavyweight by that time of his career, without question.

Well Pavliks rematch with Taylor was negotiated at 166 based on the clause, Pavlik was not intentionally fighting at that (non)weightclass. Regardless it was open for interpretation and thats why I said Pavlik moved up 1 weight class. I dont think any of us are really wrong on that situation. I think we can all agree on that....

I never discredited Calzaghe, I said he moved up- exactly how I dont discredit Hatton being a WW. The only difference is Hatton already had a belt....Both Hatton for Mayweather and Calzaghe for Hopkins were the perfect fights to take at the time, but again people want to brush the Hatton win for Mayweather that Hatton was moving up in weight so it was not a good win, that logic doesnt add up just because Calzaghe won. If Hopkins would have won it would have been a great win. Double standard much?

Supposedly Hopkins and Calz were supposed to fight earlier in their careers, same thing could be said that May and Hatton were supposed to fight at 140. The reality is the fights didnt come off for WHATEVER REASON. Doesnt mean they werent the same size and doesnt mean they all of a sudden didnt belong in the ring together.